AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Updates for February 5, 2009

Financial Times

Hedda Gabler, American Airlines Theatre, New York
Theoretically smart, this Mary-Louise Parker’s Ibsen debut is curiously uninvolving, writes Brendan Lemon

nypress

Not Quite, Getting Hedda
Mary-Louise Parker, as Gabler, is picayune Something about Christopher Shinns adaptation of Hedda Gabler, the Henrik Ibsen play receiving a discordant revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company, is very 21st century stylistically.To the ...

The Villager

The Americanization of ‘Hedda Gabler’
Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” is a theatrical staple worldwide, revived as often as any classic by Shakespeare or the ancient Greek playwrights. Because “Hedda Gabler” has been performed so many times, it’s always open to new ...

Reflections in the Light

Review: Hedda Gabler
This Revival of the Classic Misfires

Village Voice

The Victorian Cult of Beauty Infuses Hedda Gabler and Freshwater by Michael Feingold

New York Observer

Mary-Louise's Bare Bum Had Me Hedda-ing for the Exits!

BroadwayWorld.com

* Broadway Blog - Hedda Gabler: Art Isn't Easy

Updates for February 2, 2009

New York Magazine

Brown, Zacharek on American Plan, Hedda Gabler

The New Yorker

John Lahr: A new take on Ibsen’s masterpiece.

Edge New York

Review: Hedda Gabler
Mary Louise Parker gives a masterfully natural performance as the quintessential bad girl in a production that brings new insights into Ibsen’s engimatic anti-heroine.

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UPDATES FOR JANUARY 29

Time Out

Review: Hedda Gabler
We love Mary-Louise Parker, but not this wan, unfocused revival of an overdone classic.

ny1

NY1 Theater Review: "Hedda Gabler"

nytheatre.com

Review: Hedda Gabler

ADDITIONS FOR 1/27/09:

Hartford Courant

New York Stage: 'Hedda Gabler' Not Meant For Modern Era

CurtainUp

Hedda Gabler
Review of Christopher Shinn's new adaptation of Ibsen's famous gun-toting anti-heroine, plus an essay about The Many Faces of Hedda.

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AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - Hedda Gabler - An Uneven Return Visit to Ibsen's Doomed Heroine

New York Times

Hedda’s Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Day
That the director Ian Rickson is responsible for one of the worst revivals I have ever, ever seen has me flummoxed.

New York Daily News

'Gabler's' not 'Hedda' the class
Before a single word is spoken, Broadway's new "Hedda Gabler" suggests that it's going to expose Henrik Ibsen's destructive "heroine" like never before.

amNY New York City Theater

Theater Review of Hedda Gabler
“Hedda Gabler” is sort of like “Gypsy.” Though one is an 1891 Ibsen drama and the other is a 1959 musical comedy, each is constantly revived because they operate as both monumental theater and star vehicles. In fact, the lead character of each is a similarly desperate, horrifying woman.

Newsday

Casting mismatch helps foil 'Hedda Gabler'

New York Post

'Hedda' there for Parker only
She's what is generously called "complicated" - narcissistic, manipulative and just plain mean. No wonder Ingrid Bergman, Diana Rigg, Annette Bening, Cate Blanchett and other greats have gravitated to that desperate housewife, Hedda Gabler. Now it's Mary-Louise Parker's time. Her sultry star turn in Ibsen's 1890...

Bergen Record

Review of 'Hedda Gabler' on Broadway

Associated Press

A Nerve-Jangling 'Hedda Gabler' Arrives on B'way
In director Ian Rickson's nerve-jangling, melodramatic production of ''Hedda Gabler,'' Henrik Ibsen's unhappy heroine doesn't walk. She paces with the deliberation of a caged animal

Bloomberg.com

Charming Mary-Louise Parker Leads Too Modern `Hedda Gabler': John Simon
Mary-Louise Parker, an actress always worth watching, stars in the latest Broadway revival of “Hedda Gabler.” The Roundabout Theatre Company production marks the fourth major staging in recent memory -- and New York still can’t get Henrik Ibsen’s drama right.

USA Today

'Hedda Gabler' loses much in this adaptation
Is the world ready for a post-punk Hedda Gabler?

Variety

Review: Hedda Gabler
..And while there's entertainment to be had from Parker's curt sarcasm and nutty double-takes, too many perplexing choices make the great play unaffecting and the irrational actions of its self-destructive antiheroine unsurprising.

Hollywood Reporter

Theater Review: Hedda Gabler
Bottom Line: Parker's neurotic Hedda fails to compel in this highly uneven Broadway revival.

Back Stage

Hedda Gabler reviewed by David Sheward
While it's great fun to watch Mary-Louise Parker chew the scenery like an intergalactic villainess, Ian Rickson's overheated production does not deliver Ibsen's intent.

TheaterMania

Review: Hedda Gabler
Mary-Louise Parker delivers an ultimately devastating portrayal of Ibsen's anti-heroine in Ian Rickson's semi-successful revival.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Hedda Gabler
Despite providing sound entertainment and intermittent flashes of intelligence, Roundabout’s new production of Hedda Gabler at the American Airlines is missing almost all the air that typically makes Henrik Ibsen’s 119-year-old dissection of disaffection so breathtaking.

 

Updates for February 5, 2009

Los Angeles CityBeat

'Leading the Way' into 'Stormy Weather'

L.A. Weekly

Theater Reviews: Jane Austen Unscripted, A Skull in Connemara, Model Behavior
Also, The Todd and Molly Show, Dai, Stormy Weather and more

Back Stage - L.A. Reviews

Review: Stormy Weather
The closing number, in which Uggams delivers a smashing rendition of Horne's signature song, "Stormy Weather," exemplifies the potential of this promising but flawed enterprise.

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Updates on February 3, 2009

Variety

Review: Stormy Weather
Leslie Uggams' triumphant evocation of Lena Horne's spirit and talent is the main attraction, but bio-tuner "Stormy Weather" at the Pasadena Playhouse also boasts a cavalcade of sizzling standards, a p.o.v. and genuine emotionality. It should earn a wide and appreciative audience, especially with the addition of some stronger material in act one.

Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Reporter

Theater Review: Stormy Weather
Bottom Line: The music is great, but the storytelling has a way to go.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Stormy Weather in L.A.

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Los Angeles Times Culture Monster Blog

Review: 'Stormy Weather' at Pasadena Playhouse

TheaterMania

Review: Stormy Weather
Despite some great moments and performances, this still-evolving biomusical about Lena Horne is not worthy of its majestic subject.

CurtainUp

Review: Stormy Weather
Sharleen Cooper Cohen's musical traces the life of Lena Horne in story and song, driven by the powerful performance and rich voice of Leslie Uggums as Lena..

Bitter Lemons

“Stormy Weather”: 67% Sweet
SWEET The show is too long, particularly the first act. Horne’s amazing life, both as a performer, and a civil rights pioneer, who often sacrificed her family life for those causes, is the kind of struggle that makes dynamic theater and it’s easy to see why book writer Cohen tried to pack everything in. Skillful chiseling ...
[This CA based digest will be more complete than I ever can hope to be, I'm sure]

 

Update for February 5, 2009:

AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - White People - A Trio of Monologues, Examining, Exposing Racism

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New York Daily News

'White People' observant, but heavy-handed
"White People" is an observant but heavy-handed play that exposes the three title not-quite-everyday characters' intense — and un-PC — feelings about people of color.

Variety

Review: White People
...Rogers brings real insight to the character of Martin Bahmueller -- a well-dressed, short-fused, middle-aged attorney -- and all three cast members supply interesting perfs. But while the playwright has a lot on his mind, "White People" ultimately misfires when he loses ...

Back Stage

White People reviewed by Gwen Orel
J.T. Rogers' new play of interlocking monologues inadvertently argues the case that white supremacists have been making for years, which is that they are now the oppressed ethnicity.

TheaterMania

Review: White People
J.T. Rogers' heavy-handed examination of race prejudice holds few surprises.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: White People
Racism is like greatness in some ways, if we are to believe J.T. Rogers and his new play, White People, which has just opened at Atlantic Stage 2: Some are born with it, some achieve it, and some have it thrust upon them. And, oh yes, it’s a defining characteristic of American society in that it can - and does - affect people of every social background. .

nytheatre.com

Review: White People

CurtainUp

Review: White People